Ramadan 2014

Greater Kashmir

MAGAZINE

SRINAGAR | July 09, 2014, Wednesday

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KASHMIR: Nearest to his heart
Jinnah first visited Kashmir in 1927
HISTORY
KHALID BASHIR
kbahmad05@gmail.com

M

uhammad Ali Jinnah visited hill stations in summers
despite his overwhelming preoccupation with politics. Kashmir is one
such place which drew him into its lap
more than once. Emotionally, Kashmir
remained nearest to his heart. During
the last few days of his life, as his sister
recalled in an interview on his first death
anniversary, “the only news which interested him whether on the Radio or in the
papers was regarding Kashmir.” According to Fatima Jinnah, her brother died
with Kashmir as his constant care.
Two of his visits are well documented
but did Quaid-i-Azam visit Kashmir only
twice?
The two visits undertaken by Jinnah
in 1936 and 1944 are entrenched in Kashmir’s public memory. One, when he successfully fought an intricate case relating to a sensitive matter of the Muslim
Personal Law and the other, when he
was given rousing reception at Srinagar
separately by the National Conference
and the Muslim Conference.
Jinnah had been to Kashmir prior to
these two widely known visits but till
date the month or the year of his first
visit has remained unknown. His Private
Secretary, K H Khurshid, had written
about the Quaid’s three visits to Kashmir but was not able to locate the month
or the year of the first visit. Similarly,
Justice Muhammad Yusuf Saraf, author
of ‘Kashmiris Fight for Freedom’, has
alluded to a third visit, which is chronologically the first one, in some detail but,
in the absence of any material evidence,
was forced to conclude that this could
have taken place before the death of Jin-

During my research on Jinnah’s
visits to Kashmir, I have
accessed an important official
communication, thus far
unknown, that confirms that
Jinnah’s first visit to Kashmir took
place in 1927

nah’s wife in 1929.
Saraf assumed that the year of the
visit could be between 1925 and 1928.
It was after, what he describes, going
through Jinnah’s personal papers and
conducting “pains-taking research in
Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam” that
he could ascertain that the Quaid had
visited Kashmir before his much known

visits in 1936 and 1944 - albeit without
identifying the exact month or year.
It looks somewhat intriguing that
no detail, except a sketchy account of
the travel in to the Valley and a trip to
Pahalgam, is available about the first
visit of the founder of Pakistan to Kashmir, despite he being an inescapable
link to its modern history. His life has

Internal Displacement in
South Asia

No state in South Asia recognises land as a fundamental right, thus
making it very easy to displace people

an incident related to this visit that, on
one hand, shows that the couple had also
stayed in a houseboat in Srinagar and,
on the other, speaks about Jinnah’s love
for his young wife who came from a very
rich Parsi family and had converted to
Islam against the wishes of her father.
She lived a luxurious life and he gladly
paid all her bills. Kanji Dwarkadas,
author of ‘Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of
a Great Friendship’ writes that during
their stay in Kashmir Ruttie spent Rs
50,000 on refurnishing the houseboat and
Jinnah paid for it.
The Jinnahs had actually arrived in
Kashmir on a private visit in May 1927,
two years before Ruttie died. The visit
appeared to have been a patch up attempt
by the couple that despite being very fond
of each other had separated and were
now trying to reconcile their differences.
It was summertime in the Valley which
was then ruled by Hari Singh who had
succeeded his uncle, Pratap Singh, only
two years back.
During my research on Jinnah’s
visits to Kashmir, I have accessed an
important official communication, thus
far unknown, that confirms that Jinnah’s first visit to Kashmir took place
in 1927. The communication from the
Maharaja’s Minister-in-Waiting to the
Minister for Police and Public Works,
G. E. C. Wakfield, dated 18th May 1927,
shows that Jinnah was in Kashmir for
at least six weeks. The significant document, besides setting at rest the speculation about the year of Jinnah’s first
visit to the Valley, brings to light that
Maharaja Hari Singh, then at Jammu,
was oblivious of the VIP arrival in his
country. Surprisingly, he had been kept
in the dark by his administration about
the high profile visit. His indignation
was profound as he had come to know
about it only through a report published in a Lahore based newspaper,

the Pratap, on 11th May 1927. The report
mentioned Jinnah having gone to Kashmir on one and a half month sojourn.
The Minister’s communication
demanded of Mr. Wakfield to explain
why the Maharaja Bahadur was not
informed about the visit.
The letter reads:
“The Pratap of 11th May 1927 contains
an article to the effect that Mr. Jinnah
has gone to Kashmir for a period of six
weeks. Will you kindly let me know,
for the information of His Highness the
Maharaja Bahadur, if this is a fact, and
if so, why this was not reported by the
Police?”
The document is of huge interest and
value for researchers working on Jinnah
and Kashmir as it conclusively establishes the year and month of his first visit
to Kashmir.
There is no evidence of Jinnah taking
any interest in Kashmir politics during
his first visit even as the official website
of ‘Azad Kashmir Government’ claims
that he felt concerned at the appalling
condition of the Kashmiris at that time
too. The visit, it may be borne in mind
was private in nature and appeared a
patch-up effort by the estranged couple.
The 1927 visit was followed by Quaidi-Azam with two other visits. On both
occasions he was accompanied by his
sister, Fatima Jinnah. His desire to
visit Kashmir yet again in 1947 was
not met with favourable response
from the Kashmir Darbar. According
to Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, Quaid-iAzam wanted to go to Kashmir about
the middle of September hoping to have
a friendly talk with the Maharaja, but
the latter did not want him to come.
On November 1, 1947, he offered Lord
Mountbatten a joint visit “at once” to
Srinagar to solve the Kashmir problem
“once and for ever” but India did not
agree to the proposed visit.

Parvez Rasool-Off the Field
Parri Bai, as the star is called locally by all of his youngsters, is the name
impregnated with love, respect, hope and happiness
STAR PLYER
ANZNOO WASIM
anznoowasim@gmail.com

CONCERN
SAJAD PADDER

T

sajadpadder98@gmail.com

S

outh Asia is one of the most
conflict-prone regions in the
world and internal displacement is a fact of life here. Discrimination against minorities, religious
and ethnic hatred, state repression,
demands for self- determination,
famines, floods and ill-conceived
development projects have contributed to massive internal displacement in South Asia. For the most
part victims are unable to cross borders and are forced to live within a
regime that created the occasion for
their displacement in the first place.
All South Asian states consider
internal displacement to be an
internal matter. National policies emphasise welfare and do not
recognise the rights of internally
displaced people. There is little
acknowledgement that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are
citizens – with the concomitant entitlements that citizenship brings. No
state in South Asia recognises land
as a fundamental right, thus making
it very easy to displace people.
Policies which were intended to be
pro-poor today work in favour of the
rich and the powerful.
Policymakers and the general
public only became aware of the
extent of internal displacement in
South Asia in the 1990s. As internal
displacement accelerated, governments across South Asia established
National Human Rights Commissions but their mandates were limited. Impetus to address IDP issues
was provided by a two-year research
project – supported by Robert Cohen
and the Brookings Project on Internal Displacement – which helped
regional scholars and activists to
expand their knowledge of displacement in order to promote better policies and programmes for vulnerable
displaced groups. Research drew
attention to the increased vulnerabilities of displaced communities,
especially religious and ethnic
minorities, lower caste people,
women and children. It became clear
that very few people could access
any form of compensation or other
assistance. Women were particularly
marginalised, finding it virtually
impossible to access resettlement aid
in their own names.

been thoroughly written about by biographers, scholars and contemporaries who
had worked with him or had known him.
But, strangely, not much light is thrown
on his first visit to Kashmir nor has the
exact year of his visit been located, notwithstanding the fact that by mid-1920s,
Jinnah was already a very prominent
political figure of India.
Saraf’s assumption that Jinnah,
accompanied by his wife, Rattanbhai
Petit or Ruttie as she was fondly known,
visited Kashmir “perhaps between 1925
and 1928” is correct in relation to its
broader time reference but it does not
help the reader to locate the exact year
in which the famous couple arrived in
Kashmir. His failure to place the year
of the visit aside, Saraf has given some
account of Jinnah’s departure for Kashmir from Rawalpindi where he had
arrived from Bombay by the Frontier
Mail at 3.45 p.m. Ruttie had preceded him
by about two weeks. From Rawalpindi,
Jinnah traveled in a Buick chauffeured
by its owner, Agha Ghulam Jilani. The
travel to Srinagar during which Jinnah
was engrossed in a book was punctuated
only by a stopover at Domel for luggage
check at the Custom Post and at Gahri
Duppatta for having lunch.
On his arrival in Srinagar, Jinnah
stayed with Pestonjis, a Parsi family that
hailed from Bombay and owned a building on The Bund situated on the right
bank of the Jhelum. Next morning, the
Jinnahs took another car to Pahalgam.
The owner of the Buick that brought
Jinnah to Kashmir had seen them in
Pahalgam a few days later when he himself went there for a sojourn. He had seen
Mrs. Jinnah wearing a light coloured
sari and carrying a tin of 555 cigarettes.
No material is available about the
period of stay of the Jinnahs in Kashmir or to whom they met during their
stay in the Valley. There is, however,

Significant numbers of Indians
have also been displaced by conflict. It is very difficult to estimate
the total number of IDPs in India
as there is no central Government
agency responsible for monitoring
the numbers of people displaced and
returning, and humanitarian and
human rights agencies have limited
access to them. The numbers on
IDPs are based on those living in
camps and registered there, and it
is not known how many people live
in displacement outside of camps.
A conservative estimate of the
total number of people displaced
by conflict and violence would be
at least 650,000, as of August 2010
(Sibaji Pratim Basu, The ‘Other’ in
the ‘Self’: The IDPs in India). In 2009
and during the first half of 2010, at
least 650,000 people in Central India
(Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh
and West Bengal), India’s Northeast (Assam, Mizoram-Tripura and
Manipur), Jammu and Kashmir,
Orissa and Gujarat were living in
displacement owing to armed conflict and ethnic or communal violence. Besides, a large and unknown
number of displaced people were
living in Indian cities.
Large-scale involuntary internal displacement has almost been
the norm in Pakistan throughout
the last decade. Between April and
July 2009, 2.7 million people were
internally displaced in Pakistan in
the context of military operations
against militants. It was the largest
internal displacement of population
in the country’s history until then.
Pakistan faced unprecedented internal displacement once again in the
summer of 2010 as floodwaters cov-

ered almost a fifth of the country.
Currently, Pakistan is facing
unprecedented rise of militancy and
violence. To counter this threat, the
Government of Pakistan launched
operation Zarb-e-Azb on 15th June
2014. It is a joint-military offensive
involving the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan against armed insurgent
groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan and Afghan militant factions such as the Haqqani network.
As per the official reports some
566,000 people were displace in
the last twenty days (Dawn, July
5th 2014). Women and Children
are severely hit by displacement.
Women become increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. The education of internally displaced children is a concern of utmost priority.
South Asia needs a paradigm
shift. Programmes for rehabilitation
and care for IDPs must fall within
the framework of rights and justice,
not those of humanitarian needs and
welfare. Governments have to recognise that they cannot give aid to one
group of IDPs and deny it to others
on flimsy political grounds. They
need to acknowledge the reality that
the bulk of conflict or developmentinduced IDPs are adivasi/tribal,
lower caste, rural and urban poor
and women. Besides, a regional
approach is needed to address this
grave humanitarian crisis. The first
step could be to establish a SAARC
Rehabilitation Fund for IDP. Unless
the situation of IDPs is addressed
and justice achieved, there will be no
lasting peace in South Asia.
The writer teaches at the Institute of Kashmir
Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar.

he social media is again
abuzz, this time discussing
the state’s young cricket sensation Parvez Rasool’s entry into the
national team. Everybody is pouring his heart out. Some are, as usual,
appreciating this move while others
are equally aghast sans any valid
reason. This is no surprise as things
always work here similarly. And it
is also no taboo to have diversity of
opinion, as far as it doesn’t encroach
on anybody’s freedom.
But my subject matter is not the
pros and cons, if it has any after all,
of this act on our political struggle. In
fact I’m not either going to evaluate
his cricketing skills, as I myself never
played any formal game. Fortunately
sharing my birth burg with him and
among many of his acquaintances I
thought of throwing some light on the
other side of his persona. This constitutes the considerable part of his life
yet least known to others.
Parri Bai, as the star is called
locally by all of his youngsters, is
the name impregnated with love,
respect, hope and happiness. They
habitually hurdle around him whenever he is outside for some practice
or work out session. This also carries no astonishment taking his
stature into consideration. But what
amazes is the way every child freely
approaches him, hugs him and asks
whatever any child wants to know
about his hero. The questions are
usually bizarre like asking about the
price of his gear and other sporting
goods. And sometimes offering him
to exchange the same with that of
theirs. It is only his utmost care that
they never feel dejected or admonished; instead they are diverted
through entertaining answers.
Most of the kids approach him for
seeking some help in learning the
skills of the game and he benevolently offers them whatever they
can grasp. Some even bother him
going up to his home and asking for
whatever they lack in their kitbag.
Only Parvez has the golden heart of
not sending any of them unhappy,
but with their wishes fulfilled. These
kids barely know about his skills and
achievements but they enthusiastically brag about his performances
and take pride in all of it. They truly
love him from the core of their heart.
As far as the elders are concerned, I

Meet him once, and you will be left with enormous love
and obsession for this guy.
always saw him approaching them
with open arms. Gleefully offering
his greetings and cordially receiving
their glad tidings. Every foreigner
remains awestruck on gazing him
in excitement and finding himself
embraced by his hero. Status and profession is no criteria, being human
you are treated by him warmly. His
local, senior team mates, although
many of them had not made any mark
in this arena, are given their due
share of attention. Everybody among
them is revered and regarded equally.
This temperament of the young

lad, when most of the ones on experiencing such a glamour, might have
gone astray is quite astounding. Very
few, but inevitable, changes had been
found in his lifestyle post stardom. He
is simply the summation of values like
courtesy and humility, affection and
exuberance, honesty and simplicity.
Meet him once you will be left with
enormous love and obsession for this
guy. The indelible prints thus made
will not be easily rubbed off. This is
the mark of true hero who will continue living in the hearts of men even
after completing his innings of life.